There was high drama last week when Rep. Devin Nunes announced at the White House that he had seen evidence that the communications of the Donald Trump campaign people, and perhaps even Trump himself, had been “incidentally collected” by the US government.

If true, this means that someone authorized the monitoring of Trump campaign communications using Section 702 of the FISA Act. Could it have been then-President Obama? We don’t know. Could it have been other political enemies looking for something to harm the Trump campaign or presidency? It is possible.

There is much we do not yet know about what happened and there is probably quite a bit we will never know. But we do know several very important things about the government spying on Americans.

First there is Section 702 itself. The provision was passed in 2008 as part of a package of amendments to the 1978 FISA bill. As with the PATRIOT Act, we were told that we had to give the government more power to spy on us so that it could catch terrorists. We had to give up some of our liberty for promises of more security, we were told. We were also told that the government would only spy on the bad guys, and that if we had nothing to hide we should have nothing to fear.

We found out five years later from Edward Snowden that the US government viewed Section 702 as a green light for the mass surveillance of Americans. Through programs he revealed, like PRISM, the NSA is able to collect and store our Internet search history, the content of our emails, what files we have shared, who we have chatted with electronically, and more.

That’s why people like NSA whistleblower William Binney said that we know the NSA was spying on Trump because it spies on all of us!

Ironically, FISA itself was passed after the Church Committee Hearings revealed the abuses, criminality, and violations of our privacy that the CIA and other intelligence agencies had been committing for years. FISA was supposed to rein in the intelligence community but, as is often the case in Washington, it did the opposite: it ended up giving the government even more power to spy on us.

So President Trump might have been “wiretapped” by Obama, as he claimed, but unfortunately he will not draw the right conclusions from the violation. He will not see runaway spying on Americans as a grotesque attack on American values. That is unfortunate, because this could have provided a great teaching moment for the president. Seeing how all of us are vulnerable to this kind of government abuse, President Trump could have changed his tune on the PATRIOT Act and all government attacks on our privacy. He could have stood up for liberty, which is really what makes America great.

Section 702 of the FISA Act was renewed in 2012, just before we learned from Snowden how it is abused. It is set to expire this December unless Congress extends it again. Knowing what we now know about this anti-American legislation we must work hard to prevent its renewal. They will try to scare us into supporting the provision, but the loss of our liberty is what should scare us the most!

A House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform found last week that the FBI's Next Generation Identification program, which utilizes facial recognition software, was more likely to misidentify African-Americans as suspects in crime. The committee ...

Despite law enforcement's attempt to conceal its existence, it's no secret that half of Americans over the age of 18 -- 117 million people in total -- are part of a massive facial recognition database, their personal information culled from DMV files ...

"Without laws in place, it could be relatively easy for the government and private companies to amass databases of images of all Americans and use those databases to identify and track people in real time." (Photo: Electronic Frontier Foundation). If ...

Around half of all adult Americans are on the agency's image database, and its software is incorrect 15 percent of the time. by Jamie Condliffe; March 27, 2017. Smile: perhaps you're being misidentified.

Apparently the facial recognition record of the FBI has become too unwieldly to handle and so the House will be having a hearing on the matter. Half of Americans have their faces stored in a facial recognition database. This can be opened at will by ...

Not much has been heard from Michael Flynn since he resigned as national security adviser. (The Associated Press). Print Email · Douglas Perry | The Oregonian/OregonLive By Douglas Perry | The Oregonian/OregonLive The Oregonian Email the author ...

A CNN contributor alleged that former Trump administration national security advisor Michael Flynn had struck a deal with the FBI, only to later clarify she had no evidence to back her claim. Harvard professor and former Obama administration official ...

Donald Trump's first choice for National Security Adviser may have turned on the US leader to become an FBI informant, a former Department of Homeland Security official has suggested. Juliette Kayyem said her sources indicate that Michael Flynn has ...

After Michael Flynn resigned after admitting to misleading Mike Pence about his relations with Russia, a CNN national security analyst believes he may be talking with the FBI. The FBI is currently investigating Trump's ties to the country. On Saturday ...

Earlier Sunday morning, I wrote about how Juliette Kayyem, a former Department of Homeland Security official in the Obama administration and a lecturer at Harvard University, said on CNN that according to her sources, and what has been “openly reported ...

An FBI undercover agent encouraged a terrorist to “tear up Texas” before the 2015 Garland, Texas shooting, and was at the crime scene and failed to stop or engage the perpetrators. This was revealed in an investigation by CBS's “60 Minutes” that aired ...

'I want to know why there was no one there, to repel this attack. It is shocking'. Published: 6 hours ago. author-image Bob Unruh About | Email | Archive. Bob Unruh joined WND in 2006 after nearly three decades with the Associated Press, as well as ...

That's the excuse invoked at the end of a 60 Minutes segment that aired Sunday evening to explain why the FBI failed to stop two ISIS-inspired terrorists in direct contact with two ISIS terror recruiters. The attackers rolled up in a car loaded with ...

A CBS investigation reveals that FBI agent was associated with ISIS attackers and even encouraged them before attack to 'tear up Texas.' Contact Editor. Guy Cohen, 27/03/17 16:27. Share. Send To Friend. You need to fill your name, your email and your ...

The following is a script from “Attack in Garland,” which aired on March 26, 2017. Anderson Cooper is the correspondent. Graham Messick and Steve McCarthy, producers. Jack Weingart, associate producer. Wednesday's terror attack in London by a man who ...

Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly says he told members of the Detroit area's Arab-American and Latino communities that he is committed to keeping the country safe without targeting anyone based on a person's ethnicity or religious affiliation

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley received loud applause on Monday when she delivered a message at the annual AIPAC conference defending Israel from Palestinian Authority.

Dan Senor, the moderator of the question and answer session, asked Haley about how the United States can help change the culture at the U.N.

"The United States tells them what we're not going to put up with, " Haley said. "We start to change the culture to what we should be talking about and then we actually act on what we say."

"I wear heels. It's not for a fashion statement. It's because if I see something wrong, we're going to kick them every single time," Haley added.

Her comment received lots of cheers and applause from the crowd, including Senor. Following the applause, Haley went into specifics about what needed to be done.

"We are kicking by number one, putting everybody on notice. Saying that if you have our back, we're going to have the backs of our friends, but our friends need to have our backs too, " Haley said.

She continued by declaring that the days of Israel bashing are "over," which received applause and cheers for several seconds.

"There are a lot of threats to peace and security, but you are not going to take our number one Democratic friend in the Middle East and beat up on them," Haley said. "And I think what you're seeing is they're all backing up a little bit, the Israel bashing is not as loud, they didn't know exactly what I meant outside of giving the speech, so I showed them."

Waters said she has used the word impeachment "to the dislike" of her Democratic colleagues, as they believe the declaration is premature. But Waters claimed impeachment is her goal.

"But that's my goal. My goal is impeachment," Waters said.

Waters said she was so outspoken about her dislike for Trump because she "could not live with the way he treated other people."

"I'm out to get him," she said. "And when he talked about grabbing women? Okay? I'm out to get him. I'm gonna see him out of office. And I think it's going to happen. Get ready for impeachment."

This is not the first time the congresswoman has been outspoken about impeaching Trump. Waters has frequently used her social media accounts to bash Trump, declaring that he and what she calls his "Kremlin clan" colluded with Russia.

Defense Secretary James Mattis has asked the White House to remove restrictions on US military support for Saudi Arabia and its allies engaged in a military offensive against Yemen that has caused significant civilian casualties, according to a report.

The White House declared Monday that President Donald Trump doesn't consider the health care battle to be over, suggesting he may turn to Democrats to help him overhaul the system after his own party rejected his proposal.

Rather than engaging in nuclear saber-rattling, the Trump administration should widen and deepen its cooperation with Moscow.

In the rancorous aftermath of the 2016 presidential election, Russia is often depicted as the greatest national-security threat facing the United States. The intense heat generated by the current scandals, however, is blinding us to the fact that cooperation with Russia on nuclear issues is still very much in America’s interests. As a result, according to the esteemed Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, the threat of nuclear war between our two nations is now the highest it’s been since 1953.

Unfortunately, from his denouncement of the 2010 New START treaty to his “let it be an arms race” comment on MSNBC, President Trump has demonstrated a remarkable insouciance to the nuclear threat.

Rather than engaging in nuclear saber-rattling, the Trump administration should widen and deepen its nuclear cooperation with Moscow. Here’s how it could do so.

First, Washington should heed the call by Russia’s deputy foreign minister to restart communications channels between the two governments—especially the military-to-military cooperation largely frozen since Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea. As much as Putin is criticized—and certainly in some cases rightfully so—the West is as much to blame as Russia for the breakdown in communications.

Since Russia’s membership in the G-8 was revoked in March 2014, Moscow has also been excluded from G-8 initiatives like the Global Partnership against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction, a partnership that is clearly as much in America’s interests as it is in Russia’s.

The overextended “fourth branch” of government is no longer accountable to the people.

The United States government is suffering from the arrogance of the unaccountable, and if the election of Donald Trump meant anything, it’s that voters want a serious course correction.

Politico recently published an article claiming that career government employees are “panicked” by reporting on their political activities. The story hinged on a series of articles by the Conservative Review’s Jordan Schachtel, who wrote about how State Department staffers are likely unfavorable to the new administration.

According to Politico, Jacqueline Simon, policy director at the American Federation of Government Employees, said that government workers “didn’t work for Obama and don’t work for Trump.”

“This is a completely apolitical civil service,” Simon said. “Their employer is the American people.”

However, the actions of these staffers appear to be far from “apolitical.”

One staffer played a prominent role in crafting the Obama administration’s Iran policy by convincing American companies to do business with the Iranian regime, another staffer had ties to the National Iranian-American Council, which has been accused of being a mouthpiece for the Iranian government, and a third staffer openly attacked the new administration’s policies on social media.

»Top Shots27/03/17 18:07 from Mike Nova's Shared NewsLinksmikenova shared this story from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. Some of the most compelling photographs from RFE/RL's broadcast region and beyond for the 13th week of 2017.

»Lapdog Nunes - Google Search25/03/17 06:27 from Mike Nova's Shared NewsLinksmikenova shared this story . cleveland.com Rep. Nunes Is a Lapdog in a Watchdog Role New York Times - Mar 23, 2017 Representative Devin Nunes looked uneasy. Mr. Nunes , the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, was struggling on ...

»comey - Google Search24/03/17 17:52 from Mike Nova's Shared NewsLinksmikenova shared this story . FBI Director Comey visits White House The Hill - 2 hours ago FBI Director James Comey was at the White House on Friday, days after he confirmed his bureau is investigating ties between associates of ... ...

»attack in Chechnya - Google Search24/03/17 12:38 from Mike Nova's Shared NewsLinksmikenova shared this story . Sputnik International Six National Guard's forces killed in militants' attack in Chechnya Russia Beyond the Headlines - 6 hours ago Six servicemen of Russia's National Guard were killed when repelling an atta...

»Suffolk County death - Google Search24/03/17 12:20 from Mike Nova's Shared NewsLinksmikenova shared this story . 'Foul play' suspected in Farmingville death , Suffolk cops say Newsday - 4 hours ago On Friday, March 24, 2017, Suffolk County police said they suspect "foul play" in the death of a man found in a home on Iro...

»London attack: What we know so far22/03/17 21:16 from Mike Nova's Shared NewsLinksmikenova shared this story from BBC News - Home. Five people have died and 40 people have been injured in a terror attack near the Houses of Parliament. Here is what we know so far. What happened? At 14.40 GMT a single attacker drove a c...

Reviews

Reviews

The statistical effects of the October 28 Letter | Federal Bureau of Investigation - NYT

"Many good questions could and should al-zo be asked when Mr. Comey testifies in the closed session of the House Intelligence Committee next week... Comey's overall "motivations" might be complex and and at the same time simple: the security of the country. The details of these complexities are not easy to read..." - by Michael Novakhov - 4.25.17

Gangs, Intelligence Services, and Politics

M.N.: It would be unforgivably naive to suppose that the U.S. criminal Underworld is not controlled these days by the Russian Mafia, and, in turn, by the Russian Intelligence Services. It would also be unforgivably naive to suppose that there are no messages contained in the various criminal acts, and that there are no connections between the Underworld's recent operations and the present situation in the U.S., including the present investigations. As a matter of facts and the investigative leads, they might hold and provide the most easily accessible clues. Attention, the FBI and the significant others: do access these clues.

Smoke and Fire: The Trumputkins, the Trumpumpkins, "The Tillerson Ultimatum", and bad, bad Assad

By Michael Novakhov: So, the Trump - Putin mysterious marriage is on the rocks... The unresolved issues, whatever, whoever, and however triggers the attention to them and their discussions, have to be resolved: soundly, timely, fundamentally, and the long-term; otherwise they come back and accumulate, and together with the other unresolved issues, snowball and cause the avalanches. Nobody needs this mess, enough snow jobs everywhere... That's what Mishustin thinks...

"If you really want to fight ISIS, look into its origins and essence first." - Fight Against "ISIS"

In the opinion of the great many observers, those "sham" groups are nothing more than the creations and proxies of the Russian Military Intelligence (GRU), formed on the basis of the coalitions of the disaffected ex- Baathist Saddam's military (and first of all, military intelligence officers, historically tied with the GRU), with the "rebels-for-hire", and the Assad's Syrian Intelligence Services, which are also the proxies of the GRU.

"Trumpism" as the "social-political experiment" and the "Gang of Four"

The engineered election of Donald Trump as the U.S. President is the joint operation of the German, Russian, and Israeli Intelligence Services with the major executive and operational role played by the Russian-Jewish Mafia at the head of the International Organized Crime - by Michael Novakhov

Tillerson's Complaint:

"Lavrov won't dance with me..."

Lavrov's Response:

"My mama done tol' me... A man's a two-face..."

Vovchick "The Tarantula", why were you so "loud"?!

For Russia (or any other state), this extraordinary, unusual, demonstrative, primitive, blatant "loudness" was like digging her own grave with regard to the US - Russian relations, especially at the time when their improvement and the relief of sanctions is so desired by them, and no doubts, they would understand this very well. This peculiarity in this affair points to the possible deliberate set-up from the third party... The US - Russia - Germany triangle and the role of the revived German intelligence in it after the WW2 have to be examined under the most powerful microscope, in all their hidden details, and in the historical perspective.

Mike Nova's Shared NewsLinks Review

Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks

Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks

Howl!

The America of my dreams: Shattered. Raped.

The King Trump - by Michael Novakhov

The public prayers for His Majesty's health, wealth, and well-being, and also for the development of his additional intellectual capacities should be held no less than three times a day in all public squares, government offices, courthouses, and the places of worship, and also in all the private and public toilets, with the benefit of generating the taxable and multiple extra-flushes. Hopefully, it will flush out in due time.

The Information Age

All the relevant information at your fingertips: Information is not a commodity for sale but one of the most vital and important inalienable rights. To paraphrase Descartes: "I have access to information therefore I am". ("Information Age" - post of 11.30-21.13 | Image from: Information - Google Images)